Monitor Audio Gold Signature 205 Reviews
5 of 5
MSRP 3000.00Description: The Gold Signature 20 is a true full-range performer boasting a wide frequency range of 32Hz-to-43kHz. It incorporates advanced, low-resonance drivers, a rigid build, and smooth contoured cabinets available in a selection of premium wood and lacquer finishes.
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<br>The GS20 features new low-distortion 6½-inch C-CAM (Ceramic Coated Aluminum Magnesium) woofer and midrange drivers with RST (Rigid Surface Technology) and a 1-inch C-CAM gold dome tweeter developed especially for the Gold Signature range.
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<br>This two-and-a-half way, three-driver configuration is built around a unique dual-cavity cabinet design, in which the 6½-inch woofer and midrange drivers work in separate enclosures, tuned to different frequencies and impedances. This provides high power handling and delivers fast, deep, and more dynamic bass with great transparency through the critical midrange.

User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
Christhehandyman
a AudioPhile

Date Reviewed: March 26, 2011

Bottom Line:

After 35 yrs in this hobby of HI FI this is the first time iv written anything! After listening to music over the last 3 evenings i felt i had to say something about these speakers! Iv had them for 5 yrs and feel iv had a lot of experience with them now with lots of different equipment! Iv owned many of the world renowned speakers that we all know and love. Many of the best speakers produced have something that they do really well which makes them classics that shine out above their peers, the GS20s have many attributes that individually would make them stars, but to be honest to have so many good qualities in ONE speaker is astonishing! Iv been a great fan of Kef reference speakers and tend to go back to them from time to time, but had a pair of Monitor Audio Studio 20s a few years ago and was amazed at their clarity, speed, three dimentional imaging, and also they were smooth with it, which is rare, usually detail equals bright sound, but they had all the detail in the world and yet never got remotely harsh! I think everyone must have heard Lou Reed, Walk On THe Wildside, at some time in their lives, well it was the first time id heard the backing vocalists as a collection of clearly defined individual voices of different textures, they started from about three feet behind the speakers and with each "do da do" moved further forward into the room finishing up about a foot in front of me! Miles Davis Kind Of Blue albumn sounded pretty awesome too! So why did i sell them? Well they did seem to run out of steam at really rocking levels, kind of stopped going any louder at a certain point, aural memory is a funny thing that really cant be trusted, i had started to miss the organic sound of Kefs, which was a mistake, because then i missed everything thing else the Studio 20s did and realised they had been organic enough,the Kefs sounded veiled and lacking imaging! Guess what, suddenly there were no Studio 20s for sale any more so i was stuck! This turned out to be a good thing because i bought the GS20s, they have most of the attributes of the Studio20s the same ability with detail, dimension, scale, imaging etc but are able to go louder and feel less stressed, they do everything effortlessly, maybe not quite as fast as Studio 20s but the improved bass makes up for this. Very much as with Studio 20s the GS20s are very chamelion like, they will take on the sound of the equipment you feed them, you can clearly hear any changes in equipment or cables without having to listen too hard, which makes it quite easy to tailor a sound that suits you.because you are in no doubt as to the effect of any changes to your equipment, good or bad! These speakers are very desrving of the very best equipment, they will just continue to improve as your equpment does. The consruction and finish is outstanding and the looks are very wife friendly, my wife actually comments that they are her favourite speakers of any iv had, she actually complains when i get upgradeitus that i shouldnt change the speakers! I have played with other speakers during the last 5 yrs but nothing as done enough to convince me its time to change. Very highly recommended, a lovely speaker!.

In my humble opinion, there is just too much 'voodoo' in modern HiFi: theories and products that never cease to amaze me. Power chords costing three figure sums, speaker cables costing four figure sums - all supposedly being the be-all-and-end-all of great sound. All to no real avail other than having spent a lot of money and the 'must hear' improvement that is just imperative after having spent so much.

Same story with speakers, alas. Some companies buy in standard units anyone can buy at reasonable prices, build a nice enclosure, tell the world about how disappointed you were with existing loudspeaker designs, and sell it for some serious cash. There is a market for that.

The good news is that there are still companies like Monitor Audio. Companies that are into honest and thorough research and development when it comes to the drive units and the other design elements that make truly good loudspeakers. Like B&W, Canton, Dynaudio, KEF, Focal and Revel, by the way, to mention a few others.

I've been looking at speakers costing over twice as much. I'm not saying that the GS20 beats them all, but this speaker offers a good balance between offering insight and detail retreival and also being 'tolerant' towards the lower quality recordings that you may still love.

I did find that some more expensive and more revaeling speakers will cause a two way split in your music collection: sounding okay or 'unbearable' on your super system.

This speaker brings out the melody (that quality that makes everything 'sing'), the detail and the music! It's an engaging listen; recommended without any second thoughts!

These beauties represent my first real foray into 'proper' hi-fi kit. I had the luxury of auditioning them in a showroom packed with about a dozen other offerings I was looking at: B&W, Thiel, Spendor, Dali, Quad etc. I paid about 330,000 Japanese yen for a rosewood pair to go in our listening room. That's probably something of a premium compared to what people living on the continents may pay but sadly the Hi-fi market here isn't quite as widespread and you need to hunt around for a good stockist.

I'm a very eclectic listener from death metal to opera and country so finding a neutral speaker was the key thing for me. Try as I might I just could not get away from how inviting the sound coming from the monitors was. The bass is smooth, fast, accurate and really, really deep. Mids are sublime. Highs are crisp and detailed and somehow manage to avoid being harsh even though they use a metal tweeter. My preference has been silk tweeters in the past but I've since been converted.

As for the imaging and soundstage: magnificent. I played a track from the Squirrel Nut Zippers' "Hot" album and I was picking the location of each instrument in the piece - honestly it was like being in the middle of the action - and this was from only a stereo reproduction.

I've matched them with Yamaha's recent hi-fi amp and CD player the AS-1000 and CD-1000 and it makes for what I consider to be a superlative listening experience. My only complaint is that these speakers are so good and so detailed that they can expose poorly recorded CD's that have suffered from too much loudness treatment which is prevalent in recent rock and metal records.

Ultimately, if these speakers fit within the budget you are willing to spend I really cannot recommend them enough. They offer an excpetionally high grade of sound that is comparable to much more expensive speakers -the B&W 802's and the Monitor Audio Platinum speakers were there too and I have to say that the GS20's sounded pretty much just as good for much less. As a final added upshot they are also particularly beautiful units; so much so that the wife is willing to display them with grilles off - hey, its a rarity for some!

Be sure these are on your audition list. You will be better off for it.

Better than GS60. Don't need to mention that is better than B&W's , Dynaudio's even at higher price levels.
Wonderful speakers in sound, construction and design. I am married with my Revel Salon powered by Mark Levinson 33H, but the Monitor Audio GS20 is my second love. Beautiful sound.

The GS 20 are fantastic value for money. Before purchasing them I had the opportunity to compare them directly to Dynaudio Focus 220 and Contour 1.4s, Thiel CS1.6, Monitor Audio GS 60 and other brands.
The GS 20 are perfectly balanced with a deep punchy bass and clear mids and highs. I liked them better than the GS 60! Finish is beautiful (I have the rose wood version) and the connecting terminals are of high quality (also bi-wire if you like that).
All in all I am very pleased and I would not hesitate to recommend them.